Free Republic

PARIS — The International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday it had discovered “shocking” scenes — including small children next to their mothers’ corpses — when its representatives gained access for the first time to parts of Gaza battered by Israeli shelling. It accused Israel of failing to meet obligations to care for the wounded in areas of combat. In response, the Israeli military did not comment directly on the allegation. In a statement, it accused Hamas, its foe in Gaza, of deliberately using “Palestinian civilians as human shields” and said the Israeli Army “works in close cooperation with...

Padre Pio, a humble Capuchin priest from San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, was blessed by God in many wonderful and mysterious ways. The most dramatic was the stigmata. Padre Pio bore the wounds of Christ for fifty years!

Reading all of these threads about Mormonism, I am utterly confused about what Mormonism is, exactly. What is all of this stuff about Jews coming to America in 600 BC? What is the Book of Abraham and why is Abraham writing in Egyptian Hieroglyphs? What does the book of Mormon? What is the storyline of it? I am confused as to what all of the Mormon writings are about, and how it is all put together theologically. Please explain.

What are your favorite books of the Bible? What Old Testament Book do you find yourself reading more than any other? Where do you go for illumination in the New Testament? My favorite books of the Old Testament are probably Exodus and Isaiah. In the New, I like the two books attributed to St. Luke---his Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. John's Gospel is also very illuminating.

I was thinking about getting a tattoo of a Byzantine style 3 bar Cross on my upper right arm. I am wondering if that would be considered wrong or somehow sacreligious. Please let me know your opinion because I cannot find any conclusive answer.

Other than the Holy Bible, what writings should every Christian try to find and read, in your opinion? For example: The Didache, writings by early Christian apologetics like Justin Matyr, St. Augustine's books, The Nicene Creed, the works of C.S. Lewis, Pope Benedict's book "Jesus of Nazareth", the Dead Sea Scrolls....etc. These can be any book, writing or article that you think was essential to your understanding of Christianity, theology or to your interpretation of the Bible.

I have seen many discussions on the theology of Justification and Salvation. Many Protestants, in particular, tend to believe that the soul can be saved through Faith alone, Sola fide, and doing good works plays no part is Salvation. This is reinforced in particular by the books of the New Testament like Romans and Galatians. Other denominations, such as those in the Catholic, Orthodox, and Restorationist Churches think that one must both be Faithful and do good works. This is supported in particular by the Epistle of James. here is a list of quotes supporting and opposing the Sola fide...

AUSTIN — The Texas Democratic Party warned Thursday that election night caucuses scheduled for Tuesday could be delayed or disrupted after aides to Hillary Rodham Clinton threatened to sue over the party's complicated delegate selection process.

Earlier this summer Benedict urged the nations of the world to embrace each other in solidarity and work towards "an ever more just distribution" of wealth," warning that "It is not possible to continue using the wealth of the poorest countries with impunity, without them also being able to participate in world growth." (Zenit: "Pope Urges Just Distribution of Goods" June 1, 2007).

I am a small-government conservative/libertarian and have hated the concept of socialized medicine almost all my life. But now, I could live with universal health coverage in the U.S.. Here's why. We now have the worst of both worlds: we are paying for universal health coverage, but not getting it. In fact, we pay more for health care in taxes than countries that provide universal coverage. Then we pay more than that amount again in private coverage. Additionally, what we have now in the U.S. is nowhere near a free market in health care. Defending the status quo is not...